The FastDay Forum

I am in my fourth week of 5:2 now and today is fasting Day 7. I have had a horrible day with crashing fatigue in the afternoon, complete loss of energy, extreme irritability and loss of concentration. I thought that fasting became easier as time goes by. For me, it seems to be getting harder each time. I certainly eat sensibly on my feed days and do not overcompensate for my fast days.

I am 54 years old, 5'4" and weigh 54 kg with a BMI of 20.45. I have lost approximately 0.5 kg over the 4 weeks and I realise that actually I do not need to lose much weight at all.

So, in my situation, the reasons for doing this are the potential health benefits and to support my husband who does need to lose a few kilos. However, I cannot seem to survive on 500 kcal on the fasting days. I am a busy person with two large dogs and consequently, I do not sit around much during the day. I feel that on fast days, I cannot cope with what I need to do.

I wondered if my body's resistance to fasting was due to many years of eating every 3-4 hours which started when I was pregnant with my first child in 1985. Now, I am going through the menopause which means more hormonal changes and fasting seems to be just one step too far!

Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Cerise

No, you don't need to be doing this. Or if you do, do it with a lot more food elsewhere to compensate. My OH is thin and he's losing weight as I do, so I've had to say stop as he's now too thin.

You haven't got the fat reserves to switch too either. Yes, it takes time to adjust so you could try more calories, etc.

I'm of the opinion if you are very hungry, eat...if you feel bad, stop. It's all about listening to your body, not your mind.

[carorees]

BBT053 is right, you should not be trying to survive on 500 cal twice a week. My OH has a BMI of 20, he wants the health benefits so what he does is to fast for 20-24 hours once a week and then eat normally (i.e., he shares my fast day dinner of vegetables and fish/chicken but with plenty of potatoes and followed by a dessert). This seems to be enough to prevent weight loss. He tried doing this twice a week but he got too hungry on feed days.

I think if you have a BMI of around 21/22, you have no reason to lose weight, especially if you are active and healthy. Try doing 6:1 instead for health benefits and to support your husband.
Im sorry to say but having large dogs is no excuse. I am working with 5 fit eventing horses plus my own show cob (who is strong and energetic) on my fast days plus exercising my 18 month old dobermann, so it can be done on restricted calories. According to the research (loads of it on here) says it takes the average person 4 days to deplete their glycogen stores, so it takes a while for a person to truly starve. I feel it is very much psychological as I went thru a lot of that myself. I was one of those people who was scared to get hungry. I could throw a major tantrum if I went more than 6 waking hours without food, I am embarrassed to say. I say all this in an attempt to be encouraging, stick with it, it does get easier.x

Thank you for your replies.
Horseygal; So you are suggesting I am a wimp? I am very happy that this is working for you and you manage to maintain such an active lifestyle, especially on your fast days. I do not believe my symptoms are psychological as you suggest; they seem very real to me. I am also not scared of feeling hungry; this is the least of my issues.

Listening to my body rather than my mind, I have decided not to carry on with 5:2. But, I will continue to support my husband and make sure that I maintain my current weight by eating sensibly all the time.
Cerise

It's probably more you don't eat enough the other days and don't have the fat reserves to back up the switch to fat stores.

Very real. I feel terrible if I don't eat properly on non-fast days and I have plenty of fat on tap!

I would follow Carroees advice. You don't need to lose weight and need to be careful that you eat enough in the week overall. If you want to stick with this kind of programme - perhaps look at the 24 hour eating windown but have an early tea day 1 then fast the 500 calories and then have tea as normal day 2. Would something like that work for you? Perhaps looking at eating timing rather than the calorie restriction

I am 5'3" with a BMI of 20.4 and I am doing the diet. I am 50 years old. I walk dogs for up to 2 hours every day. (I'm a dog walker.) I also go to the gym and lift weights several days a week. I think this is a great diet. It is helping slim down from a size 4 to a size 2. It gives me more control over my eating. It helps me to make healthier choices when it comes to food. And I like the health benefits.

The fasting has gotten easier and easier for me. It was difficult at first. I too felt the fatigue, etc., but I stuck it out. Now I can go hours and hours without food and I don't even think about it. The symptoms you describe come from the drop in blood sugar. Try eating a protein early in the day. It will make you feel better.

Michael Mosley talks about the importance of protein on fast days. he starts his day with a 7 a.m. breakfast of two eggs and a bit of ham. He doesn't eat again till 7 p.m. when he has mostly green veggies to give him a feeling of fullness.

Some days I have two meals; other days I have one meal. I generally get my protein from a big pile of scrambled eggs whites. (17 calories each.)

The 5:2 diet is for all of us, even us skinny folks who only want to lose 10 pounds or less. For me, I am also fascinated with the CRON diet and combining IF with CRON.

Hi!
I have been doing this for ~3 weeks and am just now starting to experiment with different things. I used to eat breakfast (high protein) but my last fast day I had a big dinner the night before and didn't eat at all until dinner the next day and it worked really well. I drank a lot of water/tea and chewed gum. So maybe try mixing things up to see what works best. But if it's too hard and you don't want to lose weight, probably don't worry too much. The science seems kind of new and I think if you are healthy anyway the benefits of fasting are probably not going to add too much more. Each diet just needs to add some sort of extra gimmick these days to get people interested, losing weight isn't enough of a seller anymore.

Also, to those who are saying people with a BMI of 21/22 is too thin to lose weight, I think it's a personal decision and personally I am small framed and still too "puffy" for my liking at a BMI of 21.

E

I had a BMI of 21 when I started 5:2 and wanted to get to 19 which I did. I agree that the 5:2 diet is for everyone, no matter how much weight you want to lose and that is a personal decision. I certainly feel better 6 kgs lighter than before.
Cerise, it sounds like you have decided to eat sensibly, but another alternative would be 6:1 if you want the other benefits of fasting.Good luck with whatever you do and I hope that 5:2 works for your husband.